Friendly Competition
by Crazy Authoresses CAT and AMS
Summary: Ever meet someone so infuriating that you aren’t sure if you should punch them or fall in love with them? This is precisely a young Mirage's problem when she first meets a certain fellow Klausian. A MirageCliff centric epic fic. Whee... chapter three's up
1. Clash of the egos

Friendly Competition

A/N- Well, two friends of mine just got me completely hooked on Star Ocean. Actually, I'm playing 2 and 3 at the same time. ; Best RPs ever. Right now I'm kind of looking for a ship, so I'm experimenting with couplings. Through the first disk of SO3 (at least, the parts that Sophia was on) I was happy with FaytXSophia, but the second disk turned Sophia into the stereotypical weak, whiny female lead, whereas before she wasn't afraid to abuse/punish Fayt. Damn them… I hate that mold. –shudder- It reminds me of Aeris from FFVII. –Ahem- But aside from the crazy rantiness, I also thought that Cliff and Mirage as romantic interests was sweet. I started wondering how they had first met, and it led to this fic. Happy reading and all that. This is my first SO fic, so please review lots!

Chapter One- Jerk!

Mirage Koas sighed and stretched daintily, cracking her knuckles. Beside her on the ground, a male Klausian was laid out and making pitiful groaning noises.

"What did I tell you?" She cooed sweetly.

"Errr… That you'll only go out… with a guy who can… fight as well as you." He panted, his face red from the exertion of talking.

"That's right. Now get yourself to the healer and give up already, Dai."

Dai whimpered at the prospect of moving, even to get to the healer. Fortunately for him, two of his friends came out of the woodwork to assist their fallen companion. They muttered and gave Mirage as much of a glare as she'd allow, but when she raised an eyebrow at them, they fell into a cowed silence and left as quickly as they could, practically dragging Dai out behind them. At the door, one suddenly regained his courage and coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'ice queen' before scurrying out the door.

Mirage sighed. At only eighteen, she was already incredibly bored with her martial studies. She was the uncontested champion of her father's dojo and could even beat him in a good two out of three matches. Unfortunately, that left her as the clear successor of the Koas School of Jingu, a prospect that bored her to death.

_If I have to spend the rest of my life stuck here teaching over-confident students, I'll go crazy. _She groaned mentally, _Maybe I'll have one of my sparring partners 'accidentally' kick me in the head. Not that they could keep me out for more than a few minutes…_

To make matters more exasperating, the male students had a competition amongst themselves to see who Mirage would finally take pity on and date. She couldn't stand it; she knew what they said behind her back, not that she really minded that part. It was how they expected her to pick one of them, even though they obviously didn't respect her and she had no interest in any of them.

Deep in thought, Mirage was completely oblivious to a slightly younger girl with white-blond hair entering the fighting arena. The girl snuck up behind Mirage silently and then tackle-hugged her, making Mirage jump about a foot in the air.

"Hey, Mirage! I saw what you did to Dai. Nice work; I've wanted to do that for a while. He always tries to peep in the girl's changing room before matches. Pervert…" The girl grumbled.

"Oh. Hi, Meriya. And thanks, I guess. I still don't know how you can manage to sneak up on me like that, though…" Mirage grinned, shoving the other girl playfully.

"Yeah, well, you were pretty distracted there. You alright? You didn't let Dai's group of cronies get to you, did you? They're all jerks."

Mirage sighed, sliding down on the floor, "No, it's not that. I'm just feeling pretty sick of everything right now."

Meriya made a face and sat cross-legged on one of the mats beside Mirage.

"At least you're graduating from school soon. You can go off to a university and study something fun. I'm stuck here for another joyous year. That is, if I'm lucky and get good academic marks, which seems unlikely at this point."

"Yeah, but I'm going to have to come back here to head the school eventually. You'll actually be free when you leave here."

"Yeah," Meriya sighed, "That is kind of rough…"

True, she could be ditzy at times, but Meriya was the closest thing she had to a real friend at the dojo. All the girls were too jealous to be friends with and the boys were out of the question. Most of them were to busy trying to get into her pants to be taken seriously. It could be humorous at times, but mostly it was just annoying.

"Well, you could always stow away on the spaceship that just landed on the grounds. Think of the adventure and romance of it all. Of course knowing what an over-achiever you are, you'd probably take upon yourself to save the universe or something."

Mirage grinned and rolled her eyes, preparing to mock-push the girl again, but stopped abruptly.

"Wait a minute! What do you mean, 'the spaceship that just landed on the grounds'? Dad'll kill them! That landscaping is practically his baby. I've gotta go avert crisis."

"… I knew there was something I was going to tell you!" Meriya said, wincing.

Running full-throttle out of the tent, Mirage caught a glimpse of the shine of some silvery alloy before it was blocked out completely by the group of students gathering around it. Distracted, she didn't notice the frightened courier-boy running toward her until it was too late. They both went down in a tumble of limbs.

"Miss… Mirage" the boy panted, "You've gotta do somethin'… I haven't seen him yet, but I … hah… don't think it's gonna be pretty."

"I'll try to calm him down." She said, but she couldn't quite convince herself it'd work.

Before she could go any further, though, an automated voice pierced the din of the crowd around it.

"The hatch is now opening. All entities should please move to a safe distance. Thank you."

The students didn't need to be told twice. They backed up to a respectful distance, all the while keeping an eye on the door to the living quarters of the dojo head, waiting for him to come bursting out. Before that could happen, though, a Klausian male in tight leather emerged from the hatch. A majority of the students let out a deprived sigh. The visitor obviously wasn't an alien race or hostile, and they quickly lost interest and began to meander away. That is, until Mirage's father stormed out of his dojo, a telltale vein popping from his neck.

"WHAT EXACTLY IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" He bellowed, giving a deathglare to anything in the general vicinity.

Most of the students either tried to look busy or innocent, but the Klausian grinned and strolled over to where the man raged.

"Hey, old man. How's it going? I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd drop by." The man said amiably, ignoring the glare aimed at him.

Dionysus Koas faltered in his anger and even cracked a small smile. He then whirred around in less than a second and attempted land a punch at the visitor's head. The man quickly blocked it and Koas grinned to himself.

"Ya still got it, Cliff, my boy." He said, cuffing Cliff on the shoulder with an enormous hand.

Cliff grinned, "Yeah, but yer getting' rickety in your old age. My grandma coulda blocked that."

The group of students collectively held their breath. No one could get away with insulting Koas like that and live, that was for sure. Instead of the explosion they'd come for, Koas began to chortle, an even stranger sight.

"Be that as it may, Cliff, but… YOU STILL HAVE NOT EXPLAINED WHY THE HELL THERE'S A SPACESHIP ON MY GROUNDS!"

"Oh. That? It's mine."

Koas glared at him, but he shrugged it off, an admirable feat in itself.

"AND WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE TELEPORTED DOWN LIKE A NORMAL PERSON?"

"Well, I _was_ operating the thing."

A look of exasperation flitted across Koas' face, but admiration chased it away.

"You mean you operated that thing all by yourself? No crew? Are you crazy?"

"Yup, sure was." Cliff grinned deviantly.

"I always said that you were too damned reckless." Koas grinned, "Come on in. There's always a place for ya here."

He then turned to his students, the fire back in his eyes.

"GET BACK TO TRAINING, YOU LAZY EXCUSES FOR KLAUSIANS! THIS DOESN'T EXCUSE YOU FROM PRACTICE! WHAT, YOU NEVER SEEN A SPACESHIP BEFORE?"

Needless to say, the crowd quickly dispersed. Meanwhile, Mirage dusted herself off with as much dignity as she could muster and looked quizzically at the still-winded boy, who was looking after the leather-clad Klausian in awe.

"You know who that is, Belkin?"

The boy's face brightened slightly at being addressed.

"Yeah, I have to clean the trophies he won every day, not to mention the pictures. He's Cliff Fittir. He was the uncontested champion of this dojo seven years ago. At the age of twenty, he won the Pan-Galactic Jingu-Taijutsu Tournament. He's pretty hot stuff combat-wise. I hear he's been up to some project on Klaus III. Don't know why he'd come back here…"

"Thanks, Belkin…" Mirage said, and wandered off toward he father's quarters more informed, but only slightly less puzzled.

_Cliff Fittir… why does that sound familiar…?_

She paused just outside the door and couldn't help but stop and listen to the conversation.

"…getting older. I don't think I could just leave the dojo. I'm not as young as I used to be; can't just go cavorting around the galaxy."

"Aww, I understand, but couldn't you just leave it to the next in line? I'm sure you're training someone. We're in need of decent leaders."

"Well, I have been planning on leaving it to Mirage, and she's more than ready, but…"

Mirage silently smoldered. If this Cliff guy thought he could just waltz in and try to recruit her father for some project, dumping all this in her lap, he had another thing coming. She clenched her fists and kept on listening.

"You mean your daughter? She that good?"

"Sure is. I think you'd like to spar with her."

"Not my style to beat up on chicks, Koas."

_What a pig! _Mirage fumed, _and I thought the guys here were bad. At least they grudgingly recognize that I'm better than them. This guy is just plain chauvinistic! _

"Jerk…" She muttered under her breath.

"Scar-ee…" Cliff muttered and Mirage's heart stopped.

_Great. He's a jerk with abnormally good hearing._

"Huh?" Her father puzzled.

"Err, I hate to interrupt our conversation, but you're losing your hearing, old man. Your daughter's outside and she doesn't seem too happy."

Before she could move, the door she'd been leaning on was flung open, and she fell into the room, only barely managing to prevent herself from falling. She glared at Cliff turned her back to him.

"So that's little Mirage. Last time I saw you, you were eleven. You've… grown." He said, unable to keep a smile off his face as he leered at her chest.

She gave him a death-glare rivaling her one of her father's.

"Hey, no need to get so huffy. I didn't mean to make you mad or nothin'."

"Hmph." Mirage responded.

"What'd I do?" Cliff sighed, exasperated.

"So you want my father to go traipsing around the galaxy with your little project team? I'm not being left to deal with this place by myself, got it?"

"Whadya want me to do about it? I didn't decide the succession."

"Well, the obvious answer would be to NOT RECRUIT MY FATHER."

"HOLD IT, YOU TWO!" Koas bellowed.

The room immediately became silent as the two of them involuntarily flashed into attentive student mode.

"I wasn't planning on going anyways. I'm enjoying my retirement, thanks." Koas snarled, "I was, however, planning on recommending my best student. She happens to be what you're looking for, Cliff. Technical experience, mean fighting skills, and leadership qualities."

"You mean you want me to work with _him_?" She balked.

"I don't think the position is open for whiny amateurs." Cliff said disdainfully, sizing her up.

That set off another spark in Mirage. She may not have liked the guy, but she couldn't let a slight like that pass. Insults to her pride tended to be her weak point, and Cliff had picked up on it, even if he hadn't done so intentionally.

"You think I'm an amateur?" She said in a sweet tone spiked with poison, "Well, then let's have a one-on-one match to see who's better, shall we? And don't worry about beating up a chick. I won't worry about laying out a cocky, leather-clad, past his prime jerk."

With that, she stormed out, looking for a victim to pummel in a practice round.

"Whew… she's a feisty one, isn't she?" Cliff murmured, awed.

"Yup, just like her old dad." Koas grinned.

A look of revulsion planted itself on Cliff's face.

"Ugh…" He groaned, "Don't say that. You're ruining my fantasies."

"Good." Koas said sternly.

"Uhhh… yeah. So, you think she'll really go through with it?"

Koas burst into laughter, appraising Cliff from head to toe.

"You have any practice in real combat in a while?"

Cliff looked at him ruefully.

"Well, not as much as when I went here, but I'm definitely not out of shape."

"Be ready to work up a sweat then."

Cliff grinned to himself, then tried to pull his thoughts back from the gutter, half-successfully.

"She really that good, then?"

"I do not over-estimate my students. You know that much."

"…crap." Was all that Cliff could manage.

He had a bad hunch about this…

A/N- Wellll, what did you guys think? I know, Mirage seems OOC, but think of it this way: She's nine years younger in this story (18) than what she is in the game. A person can mature a lot in that time. Same with Cliff. He's mostly IC in my opinion, but if you guys have any comments on anything, feel free to be constructive. Depending on the amount of reviews –cough cough- I'll update relatively quickly. Well, I'll let the Periwinkle box take it away…! Thanks for reading!

Periwinkle Box: Please… for the love of Apris, click on me. She'll abuse me if you don't… AUGH! Here she comes! … NO! Don't leave me with her!

Peppita: Huh? Oooooooooo! You're such a pretty color! I'm gonna hug you and love you and neeeeeeever let you go!

Periwinkle Box: ……help me.


	2. Kill the shoulder angels

Friendly Competition

Chapter Two: Kill the shoulder angels

"Ever meet someone so infuriating that you aren't sure if you should punch them or fall in love with them?

A/N- GAH! Four term papers due on the same day and an AP test the next day. Geez... hurray for running on three hours of sleep and being in college during my senior year in HS. If I have to write another essay (which I do), I'm gonna go crazy, so I need to finish this chappie as a way of reminding myself that I don't hate writing completely. Plus, my cat spilled water on my keyboard, so now half the time when I press the right shift key, it puts a euro sign before the letter (€Like this€), and if I press the left, it puts the computer into idle mode. –sigh- Anyways, Thanks a lot for all the reviews! That was great for a first chapter! What a nice section! Also, thanks to all you reading, even if you are silent readers! My reviewers get a very special thank you, though.. -tackle-glomps Fool of a Rohirrim and the others-

Mirage stormed back to her room and slumped onto her bed, exhausted.

_Why did I let him get to me like that?_

She didn't know what was wrong with herself… she almost felt bad for him.

Well, you were pretty mean to him… Her 'good' shoulder angel nagged. 

"Oh, shut up…" She said scathingly to herself, knowing that she was right.

Before she knew what hit her, she was being tackle-hugged.

"Ghwha?" Mirage gasped, jumping a foot in the air again.

"Shut up? Me? But I didn't even say anything yet!" Meriya sighed.

"No, not you…" Mirage groaned.

"Good." Meriya cooed, "So what happened to the visitor? There's no pulverized body on campus… not exactly what I expected..."

"Oh. _Him_..." Mirage glared.

"You should hear what the girls are saying. They're practically swooning over him. Who is he anyways?"

"Swooning? Over him?"

"Errr… yeah." Meriya said, looking at Mirage confusedly, "Who is he anyways?"

Meriya had never seen normally-complacent Mirage get this worked up, and it was mildly disconcerting. This guy had to be a real pain to get her so worked up.

"One of my father's old students." Mirage snarled.

Meriya surveyed the other girl and cringed.

"Uh oh. I know that tone. What'd he do? _IS_ there a pulverized body on campus?"

"…No. He didn't do anything, really. I guess."

Mirage let out a stressed groan and proceeded to the corner of her room, where a punching bag was hanging.

"So what's got you so agitated?"

"It's… just… that… he…" she panted, punctuating each word with a punch, "Oh, hell. I…hah… don't… know…"

Meriya careful steered Mirage from the punching bag, slightly frightened for her life. Mirage was too strong for her own good… especially when she was angry.

"Come on… what's up?"

For a minute, she almost looked rueful, but it quickly faded.

"I…err… kinda challenged him to a fight…"

"YOU WHAT? Why?"

"I don't know why… I just did."

The fact that Mirage had gone as far as to challenge him to a fight was a testament to how angry she'd been. Mirage let people challenge her, not the other way around. She certainly wouldn't have done so for no good reason.

"Oh reaaally? No reason at all, then?" Meriya said skeptically.

Mirage sighed and massaged her forehead. So she might've been a teensy bit irrational. He'd still deserved it.

I think… 

At any rate, she felt a headache coming on.

"He tried to recruit my father for some stupid project he's working on…"

"…which means you'd have to inherit all this." Meriya murmured, beginning to understand.

"Right… but the worst part is that dad wasn't even going to go and I blew up at him. I called him a jerk, he called me an amateur, and it snow-balled from there."

"…oh. It was an ego thing, then."

"Yeah…"

"So when is it scheduled for?" Meriya asked.

"…err…" Mirage moaned, begrudging herself for forgetting something.

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"No…"

"It means that you'll have to talk to him to set up the match… or you could just apologize."

A mask of horror planted itself on Mirage's face.

"Number One, I will _not_ apologize to him! Number Two…er… can't you just talk to him for me? I can't do that!"

"What, is the gweat Miwage afwaid to talk to a _boy_?"

"..Y—no. _No_. He's just some guy. Let it go. I'll talk to him this afternoon at lunch hour."

"Riiight…" Meriya smirked, cutting herself off suddenly with a gasp. "Oh! I ran into Belkin. He said that your dad was looking for you. I _knew_ that I forgot about something…"

Mirage sighed exasperatedly, then began to dread what kind of punishment she was in for. She _had_ insulted her father's guest. This was going to be one looong day.

"Don't wait for me." Mirage groaned, "I doubt I'll be in classes today. Speaking of which, aren't you late for Runological Combat?"

"Crap!" Meriya groaned, hurriedly rushing to gather a few random books from her side of the shared dorm room, "Third time this week… Master Trillian is going to _kill_ me! I gotta go! Good luck!" She called almost inaudibly since she was already starting out at a full-blown sprint. From the room, Mirage could hear the indignant cries of the victims her uncoordinated friend was plowing through during her headlong dash. Dragging her feet as much as she dared, Mirage began to trudge to her inevitable doom.

At the same time, Meriya poked her head through the door of the squat building, saying a short prayer to a random unnamed deity. Seeing that the teacher was busy reading a letter, she slipped stealthily into her seat.

_The thing about teachers,_ she smirked to herself, _was that given the right distraction, you could slip anything past them. _

And if the letter was about what she thought, it looked like Mirage's fight was just the thing she needed to dodge another detention.

The man in the front of the room looked up briefly from his memo and scowled directly at Meriya.

"Miss Creighton, I'll be seeing you at the end of the day. This is your twelfth tardy this month."

She groaned and melted into her chair, tired from her midday run. Meanwhile, a shrill cacophony of giggles interrupted her pout. She peered around the classroom until she spotted the culprits. Most of the other girls in the class were clustered around something in a corner whispering just loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"…I wonder if _she_ knows anything about him…Think she'd help?" one ventured, appraising Meriya.

Another elbowed her in the stomach, hissing 'Shut up.'

Mirage ignored them both and turned to the boy next her, who groaned loudly.

"If I hear one more word about this Cliff guy, I'm going to knock myself out."

"Tell me about it; I'm jealous. He's all half the girls on campus are talking about. You even see the guy yet?" Another muttered.

"No…" the first grunted, until he spotted Meriya watching, "What about you?"

She sighed and buried her head. The last thing she wanted to talk about was him. She was sure that once Mirage got back from her father's, she would be all day. And it wasn't going to be fun on her eardrums…

"Class." Trillian said, trying a bit too hard to seem nonchalant, "I have just remembered a prior engagement that must be attended to this afternoon. You are dismissed."  
A murmur of surprise went up in the class, but no one questioned his judgment. Before a minute had passed, the classroom had cleared completely. As she picked up her things from their untidy sprawl, she mulled things over. It might not have saved her from detention, but it was undoubtedly Mirage's fight that had led him to cancel class. She wasn't about to complain about a miracle… and besides there was the off chance that he might forget—

"Remember, I want to see you in my office at 7 o'clock sharp." He barked at Meriya as she left.

_Or not…_ she sighed.

Meanwhile, Mirage finally made it her father's door for the second time that day and hesitated just outside. She could swear that she could almost hear a conversation…

_**No.** _her intelligent side demanded insistently, _If you'll just think back to what happened last time you did that, I'm sure you'll find that you will come to the same conclusion as I have: **Not **a good idea._

Making a face at logic, she pouted.

"Yeah, I get the point." She muttered darkly, rapping softly on the door.

Her father's baritone voice boomed a greeting

"Come on in, Mirage. We've been waiting for you.

We. That can't be good…Mirage thought, groaning inwardly. 

She timidly stepped into the room, already knowing what was waiting for her.

"Well, whaddya know. The princess finally decided to show up" Cliff smirked, stretching languidly.

"I'm sorry I'm late, father." Mirage said, pointedly ignoring Cliff.

"What, don't I get a 'Hello, Cliff. Welcome to our school. Can I get you anything?'? Not a very good hostess, are ya?"

"How about a 'Hi. Why do you insist upon being so damned _infuriating_?'" Mirage grimaced.

"Aw, I didn't mean anything by it. Loosen up."

Mirage snorted and started to say something, but he stopped her. Meanwhile, Koas looked on in amusement.

"Listen. I'd prefer to go into this without any hard feelings, alright?" Cliff smiled.

"Fine." Mirage grunted

"I'm glad you said that," her father grinned heartily, "because I've decided that you should be the one to show him around the school. Hospitality to our guests is very important to me.

For a few moments, Mirage's mouth opened and closed without making a sound, but she finally regained her senses and glared at both people in the room.

"Whaa? If it's so important, why don't you do it yourself?"

The instant she said it, she regretted it. An angry light came to her father's eyes, making them flash to life. Mirage prepared herself for the repercussions of her words, but instead her father cracked a menacing grin that left no room for argument.

"Prior engagement." He said unconvincingly. "But I guess since you don't want to, I'll just leave you two alone to get to know each other. I'll let you out for your fight at five."

With that, he turned and left the room, and Mirage could swear that she heard the subtle clicking of a lock.

Both blinked and looked at each other for a moment, and Mirage rushed to the door and tried the handle.

"That old coot locked us in!" Mirage glared in indignation.

"Coot? Where's your respect for your father?" Cliff grinned sarcastically.

"Oh, come on. Like you're happy with him right now."

Cliff grinned roguishly at her and winked broadly.

"Well, I could think of worse company to be locked in a room with…"

Mirage let out a frustrated groan, but couldn't help but allow a small grin to break through her defenses.

You're sympathizing with the enemy! Her shoulder devil screamed, complete with military uniform. Is it normal for me to personify the voices in my head? 

Sorry, but no. the shoulder devil said, shrugging before disappearing.

Mirage shook her head violently and stomped over to the door.

"Hey, whatcha doin'?" Cliff said, cocking his head to the side.

He was startled out of his complacency as Mirage landed a well-placed kick to the door and it splintered along the seams and bowed over.

"Getting out of here."

She stormed out, not even looking back at the still-shocked Cliff.

"Would it have been that bad to spend time with me?" Cliff muttered to himself, not really wanting to know the answer.

Hours later Koas returned to his apartment, only to find the door demolished and his fighters gone. With a shrug, he hoped that sense had gotten the better of the two and that the two star fighters had seen how foolish the whole thing was. He knew better than to hope for something so obviously untrue, though. It'd be better to just get on to mediating the fight… cancellation wasn't very likely if he knew his daughter's temper.

Meriya walked on the path that led to the locker rooms. As she arrived, she began to plot her ambush on her friend, but she was snapped out of her devious plotting by a group of giggling girls leaving the building. She rolled her eyes in exasperation; they were probably trying to peak at Cliff while he was dressing for the match in the adjoining changing building. The guys had tried to make some inconspicuous peep holes, but the girls had the sense to cover them while they were dressing. Meriya wondered musingly how the guys would feel if they knew what it was being used for on the girl's side, especially since they were all so jealous of Cliff. Her face broke into a grin at the thought of it until she realized that someone else was padding down the path. Mirage was running at top speed toward the locker rooms.

"Hey, Mirage!" Meriya called.

The other girl smiled distractedly in her direction, then rushed on.

"Sorry, but I can't stop to talk." She called, only slowing her pace a bit.

"Why not? The match doesn't start for another ten minutes…"

"I don't want Cliff to get to the arena before me!"

"Okaaay… but I think he's already in the dressing room…"

The effect of the statement on Mirage was akin to someone poking her with a hot fire tong. Her eyes widened, and Meriya was careful not to get in her way to avoiding being run over like an unfortunate rabbit beneath the wheels of a semi-truck.

"Dammit…" Mirage mumbled, running off.

Meriya shrugged and decided to go get a good seat, though with only ten minutes to the fight, she had a sneaking suspicion that it'd be standing room only.

When Dai arrived the arena was already packed to capacity. Rumors spread quickly in any school, especially when fights are involved. Within just a few hours, most of the students had packed in to see the main event. High in the stands, Dai and his friends filtered into their block of seats while both Cliff and Mirage were stretching in the center of the floor.

"My bets are on the guy." one of Dai's friends muttered, "You see those muscles?"

"I don't know…" Dai said, gently rubbing his splinted arm, "She's got a lot of latent rage."

"Oh, trust me. You'll wanna bet on the guy."

"Huh? Why'd I wanna do that? It's kinda… homo." Dai puzzled.

"Hey! Getting beat up by a girl is more… y'know… than thinking a guy can win against her."

"Aw, shaddup. I'm putting 100 GP on Mirage."

"Whatever… you're on. You'll see." The boy said with a fatuous smirk.

Dai gave him a piercing look, but let it go. After all, he was probably just trying to seem like he knew more than Dai did about this Cliff guy… No matter how good this Cliff was, one thing was for sure. Dai knew he'd be leaving the arena with twice the money.

As Mirage entered the arena, she noticed that there had never been this many of her peers assembled to view one of her fights, not even when she sparred with her father. The place was utterly packed, and she had a suspicion that they were all rooting against her. Shaking off the uneasy feeling, she turned to Cliff.

"Well," Mirage grinned, trying to resist the urge to call off the fight, "You ready, old-timer?"

"I'm still not sure about this, but if you still insist…" Cliff scowled.

"I do."

Shrugging, he knelt down to stretch his legs and tried not to notice how perfectly her Jingu outfit flowed over her curves as she bent over to tie her training slippers.

_No dirty thoughts before a match, Cliff. You'll get distracted. _His good shoulder angel sighed, reprimanding him sweetly.

He felt like finding a fly-swatter and plastering his conscience to the wall.

Within a matter of seconds, his inner battle was interrupted by Koas' entrance into the ring in his official gear.

"Now, I want a fair fight, you two. You know the rules. Fighters, in your positions. At the sound of the gong, you may begin."

A harried-looking first year scurried down from the stands under the withering stare of Koas and rang the ancient gong in the corner of the room. The noise reverberated through the enclosed space, and before anyone could even look back to the ring, the fight had begun. Cliff reluctantly started out with a barrage of punches, all of which Mirage blocked or dodged easily.  
"That all you got?" She grinned, deftly landing a punch past his defenses that hit him squarely in the stomach.

He flew backward a few feet and gasped, half for air and half in shock.

Ok, so she wasn't a joke. He'd have to take this girl seriously…no one had landed a punch on him since he was an underclassman student. 

He dodged her next slightly weaker attempts at punches and aimed another barrage of punches at her. He might have had qualms about hitting a lady, but she sure didn't have any about beating him to a pulp. Besides, the sooner he got this over with, the less injuries they'd both sustain.

One of his punches hit its target and sent her flying.

He cringed and rubbed the back of his neck ruefully. This was why he didn't like sparring with women

Mirage stumbled to her feet, body aching.

What's wrong with me? I shouldn't be getting this tired. I'm not even going at it full-force, and I don't think he is either…A punch like that shouldn't do this to me.

She ignored the way she was now panting, and ran in for another attack. She feinted to the right, and then, once again within range, aimed a triple kick at his chest. Cliff staggered back and appraised her.

"Not bad." Cliff murmured, a trickle of sweat making its way down his face.

He tried for a fairly straightforward kick. Mirage blocked it, but even something that should have been so simple was now draining her energy at an alarming rate. Her mind was starting to get foggy, but one thought rang out in the panic.

Something's not right… 

In the stands, Dai winced and his friend let a look of pure awe cross his features.

"How can she be standing after that?" He murmured, nervously brushing his hair out of his face.

"What do you mean? It was only one hit. Afraid you're going to lose?"

"Errr… no. I have to go talk to some_one_ about something, though."

"That's a bail-out if I've ever heard one. Whatever, though. If you wanna miss the action…"

"Don't worry…" his friend grinned, "I'll be back for my money."

With that, he got up and headed for a group of girls in the other corner.

"Freakin' flirt…" Dai muttered.

"Listen, you don't look so hot." Cliff whispered, concerned, "Maybe we should call it a draw—"

"Don't patronize me." Mirage hissed, glaring daggers at him.

"Fine then." Cliff shrugged regretfully.

In one fluid motion, he swept her feet out from under her with a subtle kick to the back of her knees.

Mirage collapsed in an ungraceful heap and attempted to get up yet again, but a strong hand kept her down. She looked up with a glare and prepared to slap Cliff's hand away until she recognized the face above her. It wasn't Cliff, but her father.

"You lost. I know you're not used to it, but you can either accept defeat gracefully or it _will_ be imposed upon you."

He turned away to face the students.

"THIS MATCH GOES TO CLIFF FITTIR. NOW, GET BACK TO YOUR STUDIES, YOU LAZY WORMS!" He bellowed in his usual tone.

"Listen, sorry about that. Here, let me help you out." Cliff stammered, holding out a hand to Mirage, who merely glared.

With more effort than she ever remembered expending, she got up without saying a word and staggered to the door, Cliff following closely behind. The moment she was out the door and away from the eyes of her classmates, her legs collapsed from under her.

"What the hell?" Cliff shouted, running to the unconscious girl's aid, "There's no way I did this."

Among the first of the students out because of her crappy standing-room-only seating, Meriya came outside with a sympathetic smile on her face, ready to execute a cheer-up glomp on her friend, only to see a distraught-looking Cliff hovering above Mirage's prone form.

"What happened?" Meriya gasped, then thought about it for a moment. Students were already beginning to form a crowd around them.

" I didn't do anything. I swear." Cliff gasped.

"Whatever. You can explain later. We just need to get her back to her dorm now."

Cliff nodded, still slightly shocked, and loaded her over his shoulders, fireman-style. After a deadly silent walk to the dorms, they reached Mirage's single room and deposited her onto her bed. She stirred slightly but kept a deathgrip on Cliff's arm.

"Mmmm…" She purred groggily, still very unconscious, "My teddy…"

"Err.. how do I get her off?" Cliff choked.

"I think you're stuck. She's got a vice-grip like you wouldn't believe." Meriya giggled, watching a look of panic spread across Cliff's features.

He struggled for control of his arm, but Mirage just gripped it tighter and more insistently.

"It's like a finger trap." Meriya grinned, "The more you struggle, the tighter it gets."

"Great…" Cliff slumped resignedly and Meriya finally took pity on him and dragged a desk chair over to the side of the bed.

"Sit." She commanded, "I doubt you'd admit it, but the fight took some energy out of you."

He shrugged noncommittally and sat, inwardly relieved that she had offered it before he had to ask.

"I assume that you don't know what happened anymore than anyone else." Meriya said, her gray eyes suddenly stern, as if daring him to lie to her.

"You sayin' that I did this?" Cliff growled fiercely, "I don't know who you are, but I wouldn't do anything like _this_ to anyone, especially a girl."

Meriya sighed.

"No, I'm not saying that this was your fault. I was just gauging you. So you saw that this wasn't natural, too?"

"Well, old man Koas said that she was a decent fighter, and I know he's not the type to sugar-coat matters to protect egos. Besides, when someone passes out after a simple sparring match, ya know somethin's wrong." He looked at his arm in wide-eyed fear.

"Say, she doesn't have a disease or something, does she?"

"No." Meriya said scornfully, "but I probably should get the campus doctor to check her out. Think you can handle her for a few minutes?

"Err.. I guess…" Cliff stammered, unable to mask his panic at the prospect. He'd never been a good care-taker. The first time he'd watched his younger sister she'd ended up falling down a flight of stairs, off a couch, and from the top of the refrigeration unit (though he still couldn't figure out how she'd gotten there in the first place).

_Not the best track record…_ he admitted to himself ruefully._ At least she's unconscious… what's the worst that could happen? _

He really hoped that he didn't find out the answer to that particular question either.

Meriya hurried out, leaving him with only one way to deal with the awkwardness of the situation.

"So…" he said nervously, glancing over at Mirage from his chair.

He couldn't help but notice how pretty she was when she wasn't screaming at him.

"How about the weather?" He blurted, hoping his thoughts didn't return to what he was fantasizing about when he saw her at the beginning of the match.

Think clean thoughts… like fluffy kittens… and… err, bars of soap. Clean.

Unfortunately, that conjured some very naughty images that involved a shower.

"Gahaaa…"Cliff groaned, burying his head in his arms, trying not to think at all.

…And just when Cliff thought he'd go insane, the school's female doctor bustled into the room, all business.

"My name is Doctor Elida Tremain. Where's the patient?"

Meriya pointed to the cot that was lined against the back wall, where Cliff was anchored to Mirage.

"You kids…" She muttered, "I don't see why you feel like you have to beat each other up to prove your strength. Maybe if we had a good psychiatrist, there wouldn't be as much of a need for my services. You, there--." She snapped at Cliff, then trailed off.

"Don't tell me the Cliff they were talking about was you, Clifton. Did you do this? You should be ashamed. What would your mother say if she saw what a ruffian you've become?"

"Yes'm…" Cliff murmured, acutely aware of Meriya in the corner trying not to laugh out loud.

"Cl-Clifton?" She sputtered quietly.

"I'm still in touch with your mother, you know. Close friends try not to drift apart. I know for a fact that it'd break her heart to know that her son had done this to a lady almost a decade younger. I mean, _really_, Clifton. I thought she brought you up better."

"Yes'm… I'm sorry." Cliff muttered even more meekly, cowed from the older woman's verbal diatribe.

His toe traced a rueful pattern onto the dorm floor and he refused to look the doctor in the eyes. Meriya was awed: the woman had reverted the great Cliff into an apologetic ten-year-old with just a few words. Well, she couldn't refuse that she was enjoying the show. She was taking pleasure in his pain in a way that could only be described as cruel.

The doctor looked at him severely once more and pulled a small pill from a bottle, placing the tablet under Mirage's tongue.

"Someone will need to stay with her to keep an eye on her and give these to her every four hours. It's seven now, so the next dosage should be at…"

"What? Dammit, it's seven already? Sorry, Cliff, I gotta go…"

Cliff panicked and tried to grab ahold of her arm, but she danced just out of reach.

"You _can't_ leave me alone with her again! I could barely survive ten minutes!" Cliff begged frantically.

"Listen, you'll be fine. I have to go to detention. _Now_."

She left, and Cliff sank into despair, trying desperately not to think about the next few hours.

"You'd better wake up soon…" Cliff moaned miserably, feeling his arm starting to cramp.

A/N- Wow, I got this out relatively quickly for me. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, that a month isn't quick. Well, I'm usually pretty sporadic in updating, so I hope I get reviews for my dedication. –cough- hint –cough-. Sorry I'm not very good at fight scenes, but I haven't had much practice with them. Anyhow, I know that Mirage is not yet IC, but I've been thinking about that little dilemma. This story isn't only going to be about Mirage's dojo. In fact, in about a chapter or two, it will focus more on Quark. It's basically gonna trace all the big events in their lives/relationships. Maybe not the SO3 storyline as much as other aspects, but it'll eventually get there. So I find myself wanting to write her this way at first, then gradually incorporating changes as she evolves. Just an idea, but I like it. Well, enough babbling. Please go and review now…-smiles-

Perwinkle box: You know you wanna click me… don't deny your urge. You also have an urge to go read the author's other fic that is basically pure insanity and karaoke, What The? SO version. –cough- blatant plug –cough-


	3. I’ve Fallen in Like and I Can't Get Up

Friendly Competition

**A/N- Wow, do you believe it? I only now finished the SO3 game. I was sooooo excited to get the Cliff-Mirage ending. Best ending on the whole thing. Though at first, I was yelling at the TV that they stole my plot. I thought it was pretty creative to apply the fact that Cliff and Mirage went to the same dojo into a story, but I guess not. I had to look up everything in the all-wise dictionary –sniffle- Oh welll… at least now I know what I can add toward the end of this. I was unhappy about some aspects of the ending and _will _be changing it… Too bad I didn't get the Nel-Albel ending… Anyhow, Mirage was my highest level character (67), but she did around 15000 damage each hit. –sigh- I'm proud, but I'm kinda disappointed that Luther was so easy for my chars. I pride myself on severely under-leveling my characters and barely scraping through the final boss battle. I defeated Luther's second form in about two minutes, though. –sigh- I guess I'll just have to go challenge the 'real' boss of the game at this level. That should do for an adrenaline rush… -grins- I'm totally gonna die… heehee… Update: wtf? they want me to level up one hundred more times? Screw that, it took me long enough to get to 67. teehee…**

I love my reviewers very much. You guys are splendid people that make me very happy. –glomps you all again- Look at the author's notes at the end for a special treat.

**Chapter Three: I've Fallen (in Like) and I Can't Get Up**

Meriya burst into Trillian's classroom one minute after seven o'clock. He looked from the girl to the clock and glared sternly up from the papers he was grading.

"You desperately need to work on punctuality, Miss Creighton." Master Trillian grunted, going back to his assignments.

Meriya tried to look abashed, but it only lasted for a few seconds. As he trifled with his papers, she found herself growing impatient. Finally the stress of the evening caught up with her and she burst out, annoyed.

"If we won't be doing anything this evening, can I just go back to my dorms and reschedule? As enthralling watching you work is, there's a bit of a crisis—"

Trillian peered at her over round glasses that perched low on his long crooked nose and scoffed.

"Impatient to be punished, are we?" Trillian smirked, "Well, luckily for you, we will be doing a few disciplinary exercises tonight to make up for all the times you've missed the beginning of class."

Meriya had to restrain herself from using a few choice words on his smug little face. Of course, it'd almost definitely mean another session with the slightly creepy martial arts scholar. Instead, she mustered as much charm as she could and rephrased her request.

"You see, my roommate has recently become… ill… and I need to stay with her as she recovers. I'd very much _appreciate_ it if we could rearrange this meeting for a more opportune time." She managed in a strained tone.

Trillian looked disdainfully at her as one would look at the _slow_ student who had tried to answer a question for the first time in class and gotten it completely wrong.

"I am aware of the situation with Mirage." he scoffed, "I took it into account when I scheduled this session. It's what your 'activities' will be about."

Meriya looked at him with interest for the first time in quite a long while.

"What do you mean?"

He stacked the sheets of paper neatly on his desk and paced across the room a few feet until he turned back to her. Her eyes were still fastened to him with a surprising intensity.

"I mean that we'll be investigating why a perfectly healthy girl would faint after a simple sparring match. That is, of course, unless you think the subject in question swooned from her partner's dreaminess." He said, sarcastically arching one bushy gray eyebrow.

Meriya knew she was being baited, but she couldn't resist taking the figurative lure.

"So you're saying that you'll help me figure out who did this to her this afternoon?" Meriya mused.

Trillian let out a low bark of a laugh, startling Meriya out of her thoughts.

"Not at all. I'm saying that _you'll_ help _me_ figure out what happened to her. Though it is intriguing that you think it was a some_one_ to blame. Why is that?"

Meriya sighed and began. She knew, as any student who had been stuck with a term paper for Trillian did, that he was a stickler for details. It was likely she'd be in the office half the night answering questions.

"It's just that a lot of people—guys and girls— are jealous of Mirage's talent. Plus, there's all the attention that she gets from being both the daughter of Koas and the head student of the dojo. My guess is that someone wanted to bring her down a peg or two. I don't know how they went about it, though. It'd have to be both effective and unnoticeable." Meriya frowned thoughtfully.

Trillian guffawed loudly and clapped her on the shoulder.

"Could it be that Ms. Creighton has put her ample brain to use for once? But don't worry about the how yet. That would be my job, now wouldn't it? Now, if you could just answer a few more questions--"

Meriya sighed and settled in for a long night, though with much more interest than she had started out with.

Meanwhile, Cliff glanced at the clock. It had been an hour since Meriya left him to nanny the unconscious girl, and he was starting to get restlessly bored. Stretching his free arm a bit, he found that he could just reach the top drawer of the desk by Mirage's bed. He managed to open it a crack by straining his muscles a bit farther, then squeezed a groping hand into the opening. Almost immediately, his shoulder angel's voice popped into existence.

"Snooping in the personal possessions of a lady is _not_ gentlemanly." the voice scolded.

Carefully ignoring his conscience, Cliff fumbled until he found a small paperback book wedged between two stacks of paper, which he carefully withdrew.

"I was just trying to find some reading material." Cliff grinned to himself, "Now… what do we have here? 'I've Fallen in Love and I Can't Get Up'? What the heck does this girl read? Geriatric love stories?"

He paged through the book until he realized what he was holding: the one thing most toxic yet intriguing to guys… the—

"Hm? A romance comic?" He smirked, "Go figure…"

Beside him, the vice-grip on his arm loosened and Mirage stirred, blinked wearily and trying to take in her surroundings.

One thought rang through Cliff's mind: _Oh shit…_

Like any sane man Cliff panicked and, not wanting to be caught with incriminating evidence of snooping, hurled the book behind the desk. Mirage tried to sit up in bed, but it turned out to be too much exertion and she ended up slumping back into her recumbent position.

Still groggy but aware, she realized that she was holding on to something like a drowsy toddler clings to its safety blanket.

Something that seemed to be in the shape of a muscular arm…

Which happened to be attached to—

"Cliff?" she puzzled blearily, "What are you doing here?"

"You need your rest." He intoned firmly, "Go back to sleep now. I'll explain later."

Her lips half-formed a protest, but her eyes drooped shut before she could really object.

Her grip on his arm was significantly lighter, but instead of disturbing her by breaking free, Cliff settled in for another few cramped hours. He did regret, however, that he'd thrown the book out of reach.

"So you saw Mirage just before the match and there wasn't anything wrong with her?" Trillian pried.

Meriya sighed. He'd been questioning her for the past half-hour and she was getting tired of not finding anything conclusive.

"Yes. Just before the match. Like I said." Meriya groaned.

"And you don't have any idea what could have happened to her between when you saw her and the fight."

"Not that I can think of. Last time I saw her, she was just going to the locker… oh…"

Trillian sat up straight and looked at her intensely. She squirmed a little, as if embarrassed, but Trillian took her arm seriously.

"What is it?"

'_I can't believe I missed it…' _she cursed to herself

"It might be nothing, but… just before she went in, I saw a group of girls leave. I assumed they were just picking something up."

"Assumption is the tool of fools."

Meriya glared at him stubbornly, then grudgingly deferred to his opinion.

"Yes, I know. But I think that if we can figure out what they did in there, we can figure out what's wrong with Mirage. If we go to the locker room, we might find some clues or something…"

"Brilliant." Trillian muttered sarcastically, "But I don't think we need to go through so much trouble. What's stored in a locker room?"

"Clothes…" Meriya sighed, grudging his sarcastic tone.

"Well, either we're completely off the real cause or we've just found it. Care to find out?"

Meriya eyed up the teacher warily and sighed. She was still having doubts about her guess, and the fact that he didn't was starting to annoy her.

"You can't be serious." She grimmaced, "What can someone do to training clothes that would be that harmful in that short of a time?"

He looked at her stonily, and when she glared back, his lips tightened into the closest thing to a grin she'd ever seen on him.

"That, my dear pupil, is what we're here to find out, in case you've forgotten."

With that, he strode across the room to the chair his coat had been perched on and shrugged into the jacket, not giving the irritated girl another glance until he'd reached the door.

"Well?" he drawled over his shoulder at her, "Will you be coming? I'd think it'd be rather awkward for me to attempt divesting the young lady—"

"Pervert…" Meriya grumbled under her breath.

Still… the opportunity to get out of the classroom was a welcome one, so she trailed behind him as he started out over the now-twilight grounds towards the dorms. The walk to the room took much less time than Meriya had anticipated, mainly because she was lost in thought. Though it had been her idea, she was reluctant to believe that one of her fellow classmates had been the culprit. None of them had reason to attack Mirage…besides jealousy, of course. And if someone had already gone this far because of it, it was a matter of time before worse things started happening.

"You go in." Trillian said wryly, "I'd rather not be charged with harassing a student, especially Koas' daughter. Remember to make note of anything unusual."

"Yes, I know." Meriya sighed, rolling her eyes, "Details, details. Can I go now?"

"By all means." Trillian smirked, gesturing grandiosely at the building.

Meriya entered Mirage's room timidly, noticing that the lights had been dimmed. She flipped the switch, and as soon as she did, someone let out a low groan. Meriya yelped and jumped a few feet into the air before turning a hard glare to the one who had startled her. They did the same to her, but it took a few moments to register who was keeping the bedside vigil.

"Cliff?" Meriya finally managed, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.

"Yeah, none other. Why ya actin' so startled? I said I'd stay, didn't I?"

Shrugging as if to clear her head, she looked up at him with a puzzled glance.

"Well, yes… but you seemed so against it that I figured that you'd have left after I left."

Cliff looked rather annoyed as he held up the arm that Mirage was still firmly attached to for the girl's inspection. He looked even more annoyed when Meriya began giggling in disbelief.

"I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a weasel." he glared, "I keep my word."

"Oh, calm down. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that I didn't have you pegged as the Prince Charming type."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cliff sputtered, not sure if he should take the girl's wry comment as a compliment or insult.

"I guess I should have suspected it, though. You can't resist a pretty Sleeping Beauty, canya?" she smirked.

"Hey, now. It's not like that—"

"Riiight…" she grinned impishly, "Well, I guess I can't complain. I didn't think it'd be easy to do this alone. I mean, she looks petite, but she's solid muscle…"

Meriya crossed the room and pulled the bed's coverlet down, making Mirage mutter something unintelligible in her sleep. Cliff finally lost his patience and addressed Meriya shortly.

"What are ya babbling about?"

"Well, we have to get Mirage out of her training clothes, and I can't do it alone."

For once in his life, Cliff was utterly speechless, probably due mostly to the fact that his nose was practically hemorrhaging blood.

"Well?" Meriya said, relishing in his reaction, "Are you going to stand there bleeding all over everything or are you gonna help me get her undressed?"

Cliff blinked and took a few seconds to process what she'd just said, jaw hanging open.

"Two girls…I never thought I'd question something like this, but why? I mean, she's unconscious and all…"

"Get your mind out of the gutter." Meriya said hardly able to breath, let alone speak, through her laughter.

Cliff's face steadily turned a bright shade of red, only partially because of the nosebleed, as he glared at the hyperventilating girl.

"What's wrong with you? I gotta say that I don't get the joke…"

Meriya quieted her chuckles into silent shakes, and blinked up at Cliff innocently.

"Why, we think someone might've tampered with Mirage's training clothes to get her like this, so we have to study them. What didya think I meant?"

Instead of the abashed look she'd expected him to sport after she told him, a cloud of seriousness flitted over his features making him look pretty hard.

"So yer sayin' that you think some_one_ did this to her? Who is it? I'll—"

Meriya noticed with apprehension how he was clenching one leather-clad hand menacingly.

'We don't know anything definitive right now, so don't go trying to hunt down every student on campus just yet.'

Cliff grumbled darkly, but quit clenching his hand.

'The best thing you can do for her right now is to help me sit her up in bed so I will be able to dress her. I wasn't kidding about how heavy she is. Let me get the shoes first. They're easiest."

Looking as startled as a deer caught in the headlights of a semi, Cliff looked Meriya incredulously as she worked on unlacing the training sandals.

"Whoa, there. You don"t mean that I should actually help you…"

"No. I just need you to do the one little thing I asked. I can take it from there." She said, flinging the shoes across the room.

Sagging in relief, Cliff positioned his hand behind Mirage's back and tried to work her into a sitting pose. However, as he tried to maneuver the surprisingly heavy Mirage his hand slipped below her waist. She let out a low groan, and before he knew what hit him, her fist did.

"Pervert. What the hell's going on?" Mirage moaned, sitting upright. "Were you trying to feel me up?"

Meriya blinked quietly and tried to keep from making eye contact with Cliff, who was nursing his purpling cheek sourly.

"Wow… so…you're awake, hm? Didn't expect that…" Meriya murmured.

"What happened? How long was I asleep?"

Mirage looked around startled until her gaze alighted on a rather sheepish-looking Cliff.

"Oh no…" she mumbled haltingly in a horror-stricken tone, "Don't tell that you've been here all night. I'm sorry if I was a burden—And about the punching…"

"Errr… don't mention it." Cliff said, feeling his face begin to heat.

"No, really. I'm very grateful, but it wasn't your fault and you still stayed. I feel like I owe you something."

A stony edge flashed in Cliff's cobalt eyes, making him look fiercer and more adamant than ever. Taking into account his normal expression, it was an unsettling sight to behold.

"I do things because they're what I wanna do, not so I'll get something in return. I chose to do you a favor. My decision, my prerogative. Don't sweat it."

Mirage was about to protest until she saw what an unyieldingly stubborn attitude he could project by a mere look. After all, it was senseless to argue over something so silly with someone who could end it without saying a word. It was then that Mirage saw the answer to a question that had been bothering her since Cliff had arrived. She'd been wondering how a person who seemed so inept at times could possibly hold a control position in whatever organization he was recruiting for. It was now clear that he had a strong skill for leadership… not to mention stubbornness.

As he turned to leave, she managed two quick words, ones she'd seldom had to use with such sincerity.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

He turned and raised an eyebrow at her before he turned the knob.

"When I say don't mention it, I mean it."

"I know..." Mirage smiled, "that's what I wanted to thank you for, Cliff."

For some inexplicable reason, Cliff felt a genuine smile wrestle itself past his defenses, though he turned his back before his two companions could see.

"Well, cya later. Get well soon and all that."

Still smiling, he left the room.

'I think she likes me—' he began to muse to himself, only to be interrupted by the cynical voice in his head that I so fondly refer to as his shoulder devil.

'Yeah, that's why she punched you in the face.' It gloated gleefully.

Not even mental abuse, however, could convince his brain to stop sending the synapses that were causing his slightly dazed grin.

'Well, at least she doesn't hate me anymore…'

'You're pathetic…' the voice said disgustedly before popping out of existence.

"That does it." Cliff blinked, "I think I need help…"

A/N- Kinda sappy, hm? Well, not counting the abuse… First of all, I want to say that I hate work and if any of you are considering getting a job at Hollywood Video, run away fast. Lol… errrr… now that that rant's over with, I have to rant about my keyboard, which still sucks. Anytime I press the A key, it puts in a euro sign or capitalizes it. –sigh- They're probably the two main reasons this took so long to get updated, but at least I finally did. –smiles- Which is why I'm announcing a new innovative change I'm working on to this story as a reward. Ever wish that fanfiction could have Private Actions like the SO games? Weeeelll, starting with a certain event in the next chapter or the one after, you guys get to vote on what happens in the story at certain points. If the vote is split, I'll even write two chapters. Ok, so it's kind of a review incentive, but I think it's original. Tell me what you think of my idea, ok? Now, go click the Periwinkle box or else a rampaging herd of Menodix will come for you and smash you into pulp. Also, go check out my other SO fics, too. I'll be updating soon. –smiles sweetly- Enough shameless plugging, tell me what you think of this chapter, okies? Also, if anyone feels like chatting, my sn is laceyk1717 on yahoo and AuthorBabe on AOL. Yes, both are crappy names, but feel free to IM any time you like. I'm a nice person, I promise. Lol… Well, until next time. –smiles-


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